Forever
by The Unleashed Imagination
Summary: Peter Pan and Wendy had a connection too strong to be severed by something like mortality. Now they meet once more in another time and place; reincarnated physically and mentally. It's up to them to find a way to bring Neverland back to life. And it all starts with getting Peter Pan to fly again. Too bad they aren't the only ones trying to get back to Neverland...
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This idea kept flying through my dreams. Literally. Peter refused to sit down. And don't worry, not all of the story is a monologue type telling. I just had to start it out this way to lay the story as not to get anyone confused. Plus it seemed true to the fandom itself to do it this way. I promise that the next chapter will just dive right into it.

Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own the story or movie adaptation of Peter Pan. Anything belonging to either franchise are used in a non-profit or right claiming sort of way.

* * *

**Forever**

_**Chapter One**_

The story of Peter Pan and Neverland has been told throughout multiple generations and multiple ways. Not so often told is the story of what happened to Peter Pan and Neverland once Wendy, her brothers, and the lost boys left the would be forever boy. At most it's hinted at or glossed over for the tail may seem a dark tragedy in comparison. Because the truth was that after Wendy left and took the lost boys with her, things were never the same. She promised to never forget about Peter nor her adventures in neverland but like all children save one, Wendy had to grow up.

As she grew up the stories and adventures she created with Peter Pan echoed through a children's tale though, indeed, they were quite real. Real as they were at some point even Wendy had started to believe that they had all just been a dream. A wonderful and sometimes frightening dream. Every Time a lost boy was adopted off or moved away to start a life on their own, the hold on the reality of the events weakened. Even the Lost Boys couldn't remember their time in Neverland. Instead their minds filled with the reason and logic of the time. And if they weren't to remember then how could one blame Wendy for thinking it but a dream?

Despite her mind slowly telling her that it hadn't been real, it was her heart that kept it truly alive for her. But with each passing year that Peter did not appear, the light in her heart dimmed. Until one day it was only the promise of a glow and she had, for all intents and purposes, moved on with the adult life she was supposed to have had. Which included getting married to a gentleman that treated her well and had the approval of Misses and Mister Darling.

What Wendy didn't realise was that it wasn't of Peter's choosing that he stayed away. Ever since she left, he and Neverland had never been quite the same. Though time itself worked differently in Neverland ever since forever, this only seemed to get worse. What was a year for Wendy was maybe thirty minutes for Peter. And each half hour that ticked by Neverland itself lost some more of it's splendor. Lost more of it's magic. In their divide, Peter had taken it upon himself to have the greatest adventure of his time - he needed to restore the magic that was somehow slipping through the cracks.

Though his efforts had never seemed to pay off. So by the time that he'd once more found London, it had been too late. His Wendy had moved on, forgotten him. Heart shattered, Peter did the only thing that a boy with too many emotions could do…

He chose to grow up and forget.

The boy who would always be a boy was no more. Soon he became a man. And men had to participate in wars. Oh Peter in his ever youth spirit lasted longer in the brutality of World War II than a lot of others, but the truth of the matter was that he didn't last long enough. On his death a name and a face slipped through the cracks: Wendy.

In a war bunker far away Wendy Moira Angelina, now Abbot instead of Darling, sat up in her bed in cold sweats. The name Peter fell from her lips sparking so much pain inside of her that she broke into tears she had sworn never to cry again. And with her children in the countryside and her husband off to war, Wendy let herself remember and weep for the loss of not only herself but of everyone and every generation from hence forth. For each tear that touched her nightgown, another Lost Boy remembered who they truly were.

Thankfully this is not the end of their tale. In fact, it's only the beginning of how Peter Pan and Wendy bring Neverland back to life. And that, my friends, is where our story starts.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: For those of you who stuck around past that introductory chapter - thank you. Now the real story begins.

* * *

**Forever**

_**Chapter Two**_

There was a certain freedom that came with dreaming. It was the place where one could say or be whoever they wanted without true fear of repercussions. It was where one girl could admit to herself who she truly felt she was. Which was to say a person out of a children's tale - Wendy from the story of Peter Pan in fact. She knew it was beyond foolish to think so when she was awake, though she continued to do so. She'd even managed to trick herself into believing that all the memories or feelings that rose from such an identity had been created by her overactive imagination because of her love of the idea of Peter Pan and Neverland. That way she didn't get tossed to a psychiatrist or a psychologist and ruin the life she had.

But in her dreams those restrictions didn't apply. And she could truly be who she felt she was. She could go swimming with mermaid...well, more like seeing them and not being drowned. Mermaids weren't very friendly. Or she could fly through the sky. Only to be shot down by the Lost Boys. Okay so maybe her great adventures weren't quite the enchanted magical tale that everyone dreamed of having. But they were hers and somehow that distinction felt very important.

Especially when she was so rudely taken from them by her alarm clock. Wendy moaned as she reached for her cell phone, turning off the alarm as she lay there to gather whatever wits were available to her. Monday. It was Monday. Which meant that it was time for school.

Reluctantly, Wendy turned the covers over every so slowly so she could be introduced to the brisk morning air. Her feet touched down on the cold wood though that didn't bother her very much as she was used to it by now. Directly in front of her was the dining table and seating sectional. She barely had room to move without hitting it. Wendy made quick work of folding up her covers and placing them to the side. Then she pulled up half of her bed so it became the backrest before unlocking and sliding the other part underneath it to form another seating area once more. There, now there was plenty of leg room.

Wendy opened the cupboards revealed underneath and pulled out her backpack, only to replace it with her pillows and blankets. Then it was on to pulling out the bin that contained her pants, then shirts, before finally the small one stuffed in the corner that had her bras and socks. She moved through the accordian door that separated the bathroom from the main room and closed it behind her. The door that led into the master bedroom where her father currently slept was already closed. She just made sure to lock that one before she got dressed and unlocked it when she was done.

Once she was all done, a piece of toast hanging out of her mouth as she stepped up the stairs to the deck of the sailboat, Wendy was off to school. Or at least off to the bus station that would take her a town over to the college she'd been accepted into. It really was just over a large bridge and then she was there. But apparently that counted as another city.

As she waited on the bus ride, she went over her schedule once more. She wanted to be prepared - no more being late for classes. This was a new year. Her second one at college and she was prepared to do it right this time. All of the preparation in the world couldn't have prepared her for that day, however.

After she'd taken her seat, Wendy saw something she never would have thought possible. The classroom door opened up to funnel in what looked to be a group of friends. Leading them with the most carefree smile she could have ever seen was _him._

'_No, it...can't be. Peter?'_

Wendy's heart raced as she sat at her desk, her breath caught in her throat. She'd managed to convince herself so long ago that her fixation with remembering being _Wendy_ was just that - a fixation. Something that was okay to dream and believe in private but couldn't possibly be real. But there he was, strutting into the class with a confidence that made her sick with nostalgia. He was offending reason! And in that second she very much wanted to offend reason with him.

Wendy giggled to herself, full lips turning up into a smile. That was a sentiment that John had expressed. No. No. That wasn't right. She tucked a loose, blonde curl behind her ear. Peter Pan was a made up story no matter how well she had tricked herself into believing that she was Wendy. It was a figment of her imagination. Some way to escape the feelings of her parent's divorce, or so she was sure some shrink would tell her.

Because if it wasn't a figment of her imagination...that meant that it was real. And that notion was a whole new type of scary.

"Gwendoline Darcy?"

Normally she'd let them know that she'd liked to be called Wendy. It wasn't that far of a stretch to her name considering there was a Wend in there...just had to add the 'y' and it was spelled out in black and white. But right now didn't seem the time. Instead, Wendy's simply raised her hand to let the teacher know she was there before she pointedly ignored everything else going on around her.

In her state of trying to ignore the world she'd missed when the boy answered to the name of Ian Peterson. She did not, however, miss when he told the teacher he went by Peter. How could she? He'd said it in such a voice that…Oh dear, this sort of fixation was bordering on pathological now.

Wendy desperately tried to focus on her the task at hand - listening at the teacher went over that term's syllabus for the class. But her mind was a twirl with thoughts. Ones she tried to deny as they came up. Because what sane person believed that they were, in some way, a fictional character?

Never mind that her attention was so diverted that the young man who looked like, sounded like, and wanted to answer to the name of Peter...kept looking back at her with a bewildered expression on his face too.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Who's ready for this? Show of hands!

* * *

**Forever**

_**Chapter Three**_

There wasn't a bell to signal the end of class, nor some event to draw attention. This wasn't a sappy high school drama. No. This was college and, up to this point, a rather uneventful one for Wendy. She'd packed up her bag and hurried out of the class. Her feet practically ran down the stairs, disregarding any one who may have been onlooking. Besides it gave her a reason for why her heart pounded in her chest. Not much...but...anything to help deal with the fact that she had just seen _him_.

Because seeing Peter Pan, messy blonde hair and green eyes, couldn't have been possible. Okay so there was that whole thing about people not being able to dream up faces or people. So maybe everything she remembered or dreamed had been because she'd seen him, or something, when she was a child. But that reasoning felt flimsy even to her.

Besides, if that was the case then why did she feel as though he were missing something? Spitting image of the Peter in her dreams and memories, though years older obviously, aside there was something different. Something almost _less_. But he even went by the name Peter! How strange was that?

Wendy clenched the strap to her bag which rested between her breasts. She realized, a little lately, that her hand started to venture to grab to a necklace she wasn't wearing. More particularly a pendant she wasn't wearing.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Wendy stilled her breath for a second, catching the guy staring at her only by accident. "I'm fine Slightly."

Slightly? Oh heavens where had that slip of the tongue come from? The young man standing in front of her could not be the Lost Boy named Slightly. For one, they were just fictional characters that existed in her wildest imaginations. Along with the imaginations of other writers and children. Just like Peter Pan and her nickname sake Wendy.

But even _if_, and she entertained the idea for a brief second, they did exist this person in front of her couldn't have been him. It was true that the Lost Boys could have grown up as all accounts had them leaving Neverland. But that would have been more than a century ago at this point if any of the stories were anything to go by. He'd have been at _least_ a hundred and ten years old...not the young man who stood before her now.

The young man didn't seem to notice her slip of the tongue. She was grateful for that. Confusing to her as it was trying to explain it would have made everything worse. Instead he fruitlessly brushed back the dark strands of hair that hung over one side of his forehead and started talking with her in a rather friendly manner.

"You know, if you lost something you should retrace your steps. That's what everyone said to do and I find everything I loose that way."

"Thank you," Wendy answered in an unsure tone.

Okay, so even though she was really confused about pretty much everything in the last hour that didn't mean she could be rude. Her parents had raised her better than that. Like her father said - it was bad form to snap at the helping hand.

Wendy's hand lowered back down to her bag's strap. A smile touched her lips, forming ever so slight dimples as she thanked the young man and made a show of retracing her steps. With any luck the boy who called himself Peter would be long gone. There were other classes running that day, after all, and there was no way that anyone wanted to be late for the first day of term. She mentally disregarded the fact that he could have had a break between his classes or may have needed to linger to talk to the teacher or the assistant. No, those thoughts were far too logically for her puttering mind to play with.

Thankfully in her show of retracing her steps, Wendy did not run into the young man who called himself Peter.

* * *

Later that night when Wendy had gotten back to the sailboat she and her father James called home, it seemed as though it were going to be the usual kind of night. She'd made a sandwich for dinner and started on all the reading assignments. Meanwhile her father drifted between jotting down ideas and staring into space to try and think of new things to write. Such was the way with...well whatever it was that her father did. She wasn't sure if it was some sort of report on a dive he'd participated in or some other form of writing. All she knew was that it apparently took a lot of time and a lot of classical music playing in the background for anything to be accomplished.

"Gwen?"

Wendy didn't look up from her reading. This whole thing about the sub textures in World War I events just seemed off to her. Almost like she was invading into someone's personal life only to find out that it was completely staged. It felt like both an invasion of privacy and a lie all at the same time.

"Gwen," her father called out slightly louder.

He didn't get a response.

It wasn't until he put his hand in front of the laptop before her that he'd gotten her attention.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You've been reaching for something around your neck all night," Her father, James, pointed out with a gesture to said area.

Wendy blinked and looked down. Sure enough, her hand still seemed to be searching for something around her neck. Something that wasn't there and had never really be there. Wendy's eyes drew together in confusion as she removed her hand from her collar bone.

"Yeah. It's stupid but...ever get the feeling that you lost something? But like you're not even sure what it was?"

"Have you tried retracing your steps?"

Wendy smiled at the humor. "You're not the first person to tell me that today."

"Maybe you'll remember what you're looking for after a nice long sleep."

"I'll go to bed as soon as I finish this paper."

Her father nodded and nothing else was said between them for the rest of the night. And as she turned off the classical music and pulled out her bed, Wendy almost missed the gleam in her father's eyes. She shuddered as she crawled into the covers.

For a moment she could have sworn she'd seen his eyes turn red.

But that was silly. Who had red eyes?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: There is just always going to be a random little note up here so the title is all balanced.

* * *

**Forever**

_**Chapter Four**_

The day was beautiful and it was made even better by the fact that Wendy didn't have classes. School holidays were always the best - like a special treat waiting for them each year. And this one was one she actually got to spend with her mother. Marion Darcy, though she had long since divorced James Darcy she had never filed to have her last name changed back, had an old world grace to her and it seemed to infect every situation with a sort of peace. How she managed that, Wendy had no idea. It had been something of a magic trick as a child. One she'd never really gotten a hold of.

If she were the spiritual type of person she'd have said it was because her mother had an old soul. Secretly Wendy might have been someone to believe in that, but that played into her crazy imagination so she tried not to be. Instead she just chalked it up as a mom thing. But even that never seemed to fit. She'd seen plenty of mothers who were as sporadic if not more so than their children. Meanwhile her own mother made subway in the park seem like something dragged out of a Jane Austen novel or something.

"Gwen - Your father says you've been having troubles concentrating."

Wendy visibly paused. She knew that at some point it was going to get brought up. Her father always let her mother deal with anything in the domestic sphere. He was more of a cut to the chase kind of man. Quick to the point and right on anything action orientated. Which this situation didn't call for.

"Just a lot on my mind," Wendy answered as she took a sip of the fountain drink.

"A lot of school work?" Her mom prompted.

"Yeah," Wendy said although her tone probably wasn't as convincing as she'd have wanted it to be. "There's just a lot of things to read and I forget to answer when he starts calling. You know dad. If he doesn't have your attention right away he goes into drama king mode."

Thankfully her mother hadn't pressed the issue. The conversation over lunch was kept more localized. Like the dog that made them both want to go over and pet it, even if they'd stayed in their seat. Or the color of the car that passed by. Even the topic of what classes Wendy's brother Jonathan had in High School. Light, fun and no pressure.

It almost helped to ease Wendy's constant feeling that she was going insane. Almost.

* * *

Back on campus there was a lot more of that sporadic energy that Wendy and her mother Marion lacked. In fact, one could stay that there was even a treasure hunt of sorts going on. The young man who had undertaken such a hunt had enough energy for everyone around him and then some. He moved through the campus with purpose, checking every nook and cranny.

The young man looked around in frustration. He'd searched everywhere and still no sign! About to start over again, he was only stopped when another guy came up.

"Any sign, Slightly?" His voice came out in a mix of urgency and frustration.

"Not exactly, Peter."

Peter narrowed his eyes on him. "Then why are you back here?"

"I do have something!" Slightly said with an offended look. "So what I got from the other boys is that they've seen her around too."

"Yeah, so?"

This wasn't news to Peter. At least not something he was interested. Obviously she'd been seen around before. She apparently went to the college with all of them. Just like fate would have wanted. What he wanted to know was why she wasn't anywhere to be found _now_. Or the better question, the one that had been plaguing his mind...did she even _know?_ Did she remember all of them? Or had her mind turned to logic in place of belief? Did she know that she was _Wendy_?

"Well it seems that they've seen her around. But not going anywhere near the dorms. Or even heading to any of the apartment neighborhoods. One of the twins swore he saw her getting on the out of town bus."

"So she commutes."

"Seems like Wendy doesn't it?" Slightly said with a bit of a crooked smile. "Just coming in for a short time before heading off back home."

"Yeah…" Peter agreed.

His thoughts drifted for a moment. That really did seem like Wendy. But _was_ she? Was she really? The physical resemblance was without question. She looked and sounded like he always imagined a more grown up Wendy to look and sound like. But was that just a fluke? She'd hurried out of the class so quickly before he even had time to say anything. She did that each and every time too. They only had the one class together so it wasn't like he could really follow her. And now, after two weeks of searching high and low for her outside of class it was like she was no where to be found.

Surely the real Wendy would want to be found. That she'd want to confirm that it wasn't just some dream in her head. Like he had a long time ago. The only thing was that he'd grown up with some of the last boys. And there was also the fact that his own grandfather had _been_ one of his lost boys...kind of ironic. He'd even saved a pinch of pixie dust to prove it to Peter, given to him right before the older man's dementia took over. Peter had used it the very same day that his grandfather was placed into the assisted living.

He'd thought about something so simple that the joy it brought to his heart couldn't be denied - that the fantasy he'd been living in was true. And with the help of that sprinkle of pixie dust he'd flown. Not for very long but it'd been enough that he'd gotten high enough to have broken his arm. _That_ had convinced him that no matter how much it didn't make sense for any of it to be true, that it was.

"And Peter?"

Peter looked at Slightly expectantly.

"It was a while ago. First day of class. She called me Slightly. Of course, she was distracted and looked confused when she realized what she did. But she recognized me Peter."

That brought both a surge of happiness to the young, blond man as well as a whole other bunch of emotions. Anger. Confusion. But most of all - Jealousy. Why did she acknowledge Slightly and not him? _He_ was Peter Pan and she was Wendy. The adventure had never been about Wendy and Slightly.

Peter's frown must have made the young man in front of him nervous. It also might have been the fact that he was glaring daggers at the person who was supposed to have been his friend.

"We'll find her Peter. Or we won't and then nothing will change - Neverland will never be brought back and maybe you can move on. Maybe she can even get married a-"

"No!" Peter snapped out harshly, pushing at Slightly's shoulders to knock him off balance.

Slightly fell to the ground, rubbing at his shoulder. Though he didn't harbor Peter any ill will for that action. He knew how much Peter wanted to find Wendy so they could find a way to save Neverland. How that was going to happen the grown up lost boy had no idea. Just that it had to.

"Right, stupid thought. Of course we'll find her and it will all go well. What was I thinking?"

Ah, just like the old days. Now if only they could have had Wendy laying on the ground between them. That would have made the whole finding her thing a lot easier.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: So guys...tell me...how quickly do you want things to go?

* * *

**Forever**

**_Chapter Five_**

The next day found Wendy back at school. Like any academic holiday, it had come and gone far too quickly. Although, given the fact that she'd spent it with her mother, the singular day had seemed like an extensive restful week. It wasn't, of course, but it had felt like it. Wendy had even managed to convince herself that the boy in class didn't look _exactly_ like the grown up version of the boy in her dreams. No because that would have been silly. She had simply thought him similar enough to pass as a extremely close relative or something.

That notion was shattered when she'd walked back into class and saw him once more. If he were to have been a relative of _the_ Peter Pan then he'd have been the twin brother. And the way he spoke in class...Wendy clenched her hand around her knee. She could feel her heart skip over a beat, figuratively speaking. She glanced down to try and focus on taking her notes but like many times before that was a fruitless journey.

Instead she found herself drawing what looked to be a leaf. And then another leaf. Another and then another. They all connected or overlapped in some fashion. Then there were the lines that didn't seem connected. As she doodled she stopped trying to figure out what it was. And though she did keep her ears on what the teacher was saying as she pretended to be such a studious student, her mind was dazed and kind of sucked into her drawing.

It wasn't until the end of the class that she realized she was drawing the very image of the boy who would never grow up. The body wasn't her best work but the leaf patterning had made up the iconic plant outfit. With one strap thrown over a shoulder; vines and leaves making up shorts as well.

He breath caught in her throat. Not again. She was _not_ crazy. She _wasn't_. But why did she keep doing things like this? Wasn't there a way to stop it? Wendy wished there was. At the same time she knew that even if there wasn't, maybe she didn't want to stop it. What was the point of living in a world that didn't allow someone to imagine and dream?

As soon as class was over she balled the sheet of paper up and threw it away.

By the time she'd gotten to the stairs of the building, Peter had pulled the crumpled paper out of the bin. As he smoothed it out to see what had caused her to throw it away, a grin broke out on his face. It may have looked slightly manic, especially to the people that knew him, but it was an honest smile.

Before him lay proof that Wendy was Wendy. And that she remembered him.

* * *

"My name is _Gwen_," Wendy whispered to herself quietly.

She knew that to someone listening in, she might sound a little crazy. This was the only way she could think of to try and convince herself that she wasn't. As sure as the sun rose in the sky every morning, she thought of herself as 'Wendy'. That had all been fine before she saw him. Now it just felt crazy to her in a more tangible way. She needed to move away from that, convince herself of something different.

"Gwendoline Darcy," the brown sugar colored haired young lady repeated once more in a whisper. "Not Wendy Darling. Mom isn't _Misses Darling_...Dad isn't _Mister_ Darling."

She knew that trying to picture their different faces wasn't going to work. Ever since she was a child those had been the faces she reme-imagined for parents. No one else, ever. Of course they were styled up in the fashion of London in the first decade of the 1900's but still. The same faces. She did, however, start to picture her brother.

"I have one brother, not two. Jonathan."

She started to turn the corner to head to the building and room where her discussion class would be held. Only to stop.

Peter stood amidst a small group of boys. One that Wendy recognized in that vague sort of way from the first day of classes. The one with the bangs across his forehead - the one she'd called Slightly. And there were two others. Twins by the look of it. _The twins_.

Suddenly the world felt a little too large and small all at once. Her body felt out of touch with her mind. This couldn't be _real_. She wasn't insane...she wasn't.

She turned around and started to walk. One step then another. Quicker and quicker until suddenly she was running. It wasn't until she was a good distance away that Wendy had stopped running. Her breath came out harshly. Not from the physical exertion but from the weight of so many thoughts. _What_ was more insane? Believing that she was the Wendy from the children's stories or trying to deny the reality that she was insane?

Wendy spun around when she felt someone standing behind her. With her body tense she took a step backwards to put some distance between them, turning her shoulder to avoid hitting a lighting pole.

What she saw when her senses finally came back to her was something that made her choke on her own breath. Curly blond hair atop a figure that was a good seven inches taller than her and a pair of searching, confused green eyes. Peter.

"Girl...why are you crying?"

And that was the moment she realized that she was lost to sanity.

"I wasn't crying," Wendy said back instantly as her hand reached up almost on instinct to her moistened cheek.

And that yeah, she might have been crying too.

Wendy flinched when she saw that he was reaching out for her. She nearly tripped on the base of the light pole, actually. But she caught herself against the cold metal which drew the attention of some of the people walking. She hoped they passed by quickly. This was already bad enough to deal with.

Wendy rubbed at her eyes a little bit. Oh yeah, she'd been crying. Her lip trembled as she moved her hand back away from her eyes when she saw that he was still standing there.

"This isn't happening," Wendy whispered to herself as she took another step back.

Peter stepped forward. She could see almost a stern look pass over his face. Or at least what passed for a stern look with him. His step just happened to be larger than hers which meant that he'd gained ground on her. Peter's hands reached up to the top of her arms and held her still as she shook. And then suddenly she freezed when her mind caught up to how close he actually was. That the random boy she'd seen in class, never even talked to, was now holding her by the shoulders and leaning in. Not for a kiss, no. Just more like leaning in. Maybe for a sort of hug? Yeah, a sort of hug.

"This is crazy…"

"Who said so?" Peter asked in a hushed, defensive tone.

"Everyone would say so," Wendy said in a choked whisper. "My mom...dad...uncles...aunts...teachers...pretty much everyone to have ever existed. And you know, everyone else in reality too."

Peter leaned his head in, his chin right above her ear. And despite this he didn't press to move forward. He simply held her body in place as he spoke words so similar that they were quite scary. And exciting. Which made it all that much more scary for her.

"Forget them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come with me where you'll never, never have to worry about those things again."

"Never is an awfully long time Peter…"

She could feel him grin that whole hearted grin against her hair. _Oh god_...her heart and lungs decided to seize up all at once. And then suddenly it was like her body had finally decided to respond. But the weird thing was that she couldn't really decide what to do.

First she jerked back violently. This time she only avoiding falling to the ground because his hand reached out to her and grabbed her. Once more she was staring up into his green eyes. And once more she found herself lost to sanity. Within the same breath width of a moment of her jerking back she'd pushed right up against him, wrapping her arms around him as though she were never going to let go.

Wendy could feel her hair being pressed into her head before she felt the warmth of his hand. His fingers wove into the light, long curls as she clung to his shirt. She could feel his heart thundering away under her cheek to match the beat of her own no doubt.

This was real. He was real.

Or they were both insane together.

Either way, that somehow made Wendy feel a lot better about it all.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Just something to keep space

* * *

**Forever**

_**Chapter Six**_

In almost no time at all, Wendy had gathered her senses back enough to push away from Peter. She brushed her hair back away from her face as she stared up at him. There was a wonderment in her eyes that mingled with fear. Especially when she didn't see the same reciprocated on his face. In fact, he looked as though this wasn't a big event. The whole smooth confidence thing played well on his face. Yet at the same time it frightened Wendy.

How was he so calm about this? They were potentially very crazy people feeding each other's crazy tendencies. And he was _okay_ with that. Just like the boy she remembered meeting so long ago. The one who took her away from her worries for a little while. The one who, though he never wanted to himself, helped her grow up.

Which meant that every second of silence that she stared at him, she was looking for things to make this untrue. As much as she wanted to _be_ true, Wendy realized that it was a new form of insanity. One that she was sure a psychologist could diagnose and prescribe things for.

Everywhere she looked she could see the Peter Pan inside of this Peter though. In his eyes, in his hair...in the shape of his face and the curve of his smile. There were changes though and she clung to those not for the first time since seeing them. He was obviously older. Which brought him more height and width...lean width. His shoulders were making her feel small and that was not something she remembered Peter Pan ever doing. And the glow to his skin was absent nor was he flying. He was just a man. An attractive man but just a man.

These were the things she looked for, yet when she found them Wendy couldn't help but be disappointed. The look on her face must have shown too because finally the smooth confidence slipped from Peter's face. In it's place was an uneasy look. As though he wasn't sure if she was going to attack or, more likely, run once more.

"What's wrong Wendy?"

His voice was interesting to her. And she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"You sound like a boyband."

Peter moved back in surprise, one shoulder farther than the other. "No I don't!"

Wendy laughed and smiled. "You do."

"Yeah well you sound like," Peter paused for a moment to stare down at her critically. "Like you forgot how to yell."

She rolled her eyes with a teasing smile. That was the best he could come up with?

"And! You got squishy."

Okay, that caused her mouth to fall open in disbelief.

"Excuse me, who are you calling squishy?" Wendy pipped up in a slightly stronger voice than she felt at the moment.

Peter crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You."

"I am not, take that back!"

"Never," he said with a challenging grin. "And you can't make me because it's true."

In the middle of town, amidst other people of varying ages, it must have seemed that they were two friends reuniting for the first time in years. That or they were still a bunch of children mentally. Both would have been partially true even if Wendy was having a hard time accepting it.

"If I'm so squishy, then why'd you follow me off of campus huh?"

Peter shifted, his arms loosening from their crossed position. He shrugged even though a wide smile had overtaken his face, making him seem years younger. If it wasn't for the fact that he was so damned tall compared to her now, and the fact that there was a hint of a stubble curving around his face, Wendy might have actually believed he really was a child once more. Even as an adult he managed to maintain a youthful disposition to make him seem forever an adolescent.

Wendy nodded ever so slightly to herself as Peter remained silent. She didn't know what she was expecting from this, but somehow him being silent wasn't on there. Then again she had never expected this to happen. Had been actively trying to deny the possibility for reason and logic for years it felt like. Although the active part didn't really kick in until she saw him in class, but hey it had still _felt_ like years.

Her eyes counted the discolorations on the pavement between them, trying to take stalk of the situation. She was faced with the potential that she wasn't crazy. Which brought up the idea of a spew of other ideas - least of all magic. Past lives would have been real too then. And Neverland! Wendy could feel the ache in her heart over the thought. With all it's dangers it was still, by far, the most beautiful place she had ever seen. But if Neverland was real then why was Peter out of it? Why did he grow up? Who was powerful enough to make Peter Pan, the boy who always wanted to be a boy, age?

A lot of thoughts swirled in Wendy's head as she stared downwards, unaware of how her own silence was making Peter uncomfortable in front of her. It wasn't until he shifted and cleared his throat a few times that she looked back up to him. He quickly pulled on a show of pretend to keep up appearances but she could see some doubt having edged its way onto his exuberant face.

"What do you want? No. Wait. Better question - What _are_ you doing _here_?" Wendy finally questioned as she met his eyes searchingly.

"Wondering how dumb girls really are."

There was a bitter taste in the back of Wendy's mouth at that. No matter how many emotions were swirling for her head she wasn't going to stand back and be insulted. Not even by the great Peter Pan.

"Right. Well I guess no one can ever compare to _you_," she snapped back. "So let me do you the favor and leave before some of my idiocy rubs off on you."

And that's just what she did, leaving a dumbfounded Peter alone on the street trying to figure out what went wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Just something to keep space

* * *

**Forever**

_**Chapter Seven**_

His normally messy hair was even more so from how many times he'd tucked, twisted, and shook it on the way home trying to jar out an idea of why Wendy was mad at him. Nothing had gotten loose. Which means that she was going to stay mad at him because he didn't even know what to apologize for. Not that he would have apologized because obviously she was just being silly. Peter just wanted to have had the option if he so desired to have done so.

Unfortunately, that option never presented itself. Which means that by the time that Peter got back to his home, he frustratedly tossed himself back onto the couch. Moodily he reached for the remote to turn the tv on - some noise would help to drown out his thoughts. Or make them worse, who knows. Certainly not Peter himself.

And so begun the hour of channel flipping. Nothing seemed to suit what he wanted to watch because what he wanted to watch was impossible. He _wanted_ to see tree tops underneath him as he flew. See the mermaids on their rocks brushing out their hair. The faerie court glowing in all their brilliance. He wanted to see Neverland again. It had been _so_ long since he'd seen any of it and the memories of such, he knew, would never do it justice.

Yet Neverland was closed to him. It had been closed to him for a long time; back during WWI, when he and the lost boys had been forced to escape. Which meant that they had been forced to grow up. And by the time that WWII had come around...he'd been old enough, man enough in society's views, to be recruited for the war. And sure it had been a thrill to fight but in the worst of his dreams, Peter could still remember all the blood. He could remember people dying around him left and right in the most agonizing of ways. Of the mistreatment and abuse that he faced during the war. The gnawing hunger, frostbite worthy cold, and the blistering sun burning his neck. It had been in another life, true, but his dreams always made them out to be so real. Death in Neverland had _never_ held a candle to what they were like in his war dreams.

Clicking the tv off and pretty much slamming the remote down, Peter shifted on the couch to half lay down. He had kicked his shoes off as he supported his neck with his hands, staring up at the ceiling. The house they rented was nothing special for the area. Two stories tall but made up of rather small rooms. He'd chosen this place in particular because of the bedroom he'd claimed for himself. The way the window stuck out and how the roof slanted reminded him of the famous Nursery even if it it was on a much smaller scale. It even had a fireplace running alongside the wall in the corner.

He didn't care very much about the rest of the house, not in the same way. He let Slightly and the Twins do what they wanted with it. After all they took up the only other bedroom which fitted a twin bed and the adult sized bunk beds in there no problem. Though it was small so Peter knew that it might have been too much sharing even for them. Which was exactly why they got the living room to do with what they saw fit because he was generous like that. As long as they didn't invade his bedroom, disrupting the nostalgia that it brought, then they got along well.

"What's wrong, Peter?" Speak of the devil, Slightly was home.

Peter shifted on the white couch as he looked past his feet to stare at Slightly as he walked into the door. Slightly didn't seem at all put off by the intensity of Peter's gaze as he dropped his backpack into place.

"Get into an argument or something?" Slightly prompted, only to receive more of a glare than a gaze this time. "Oh. With Wendy?"

"She's being stupid."

"You're probably right, but what did you say?"

Peter shifted his legs off of the couch before he stood up, "Nothing! She said I sounded like a boy band!"

"And you didn't say anything back?" Slightly asked with a slight amount of surprise.

Shaking his head with a frown, Peter paused as he remembered the conversation. He did say _something_ but…

"I told her she was squishy and she started to get all pissy."

Slightly nodded with an understanding look on his face. Peter really hated that look. What did Slightly understand that he didn't? He should be the one who understood everything going on around them, not one of his lost boys!

"I see, that might have done it."

"What?" Peter tossed back in an offended, confused tone.

"Girls don't like to be called squishy because she probably thought you were calling her fat."

"But she's not fat," Peter said in a matter of fact tone.

"Aye, we know that. But girls are strange creatures. They think they're being insulted even when they aren't."

...well that might have explained the next part of the conversation. Not that he was going to let Slightly know that. Oh no. That would mean admitting that he'd done something wrong and he wasn't ready for that. Not yet. At least not to his Lost Boys.

So instead, Peter said something along the lines of 'girls are silly' before going up the stairs to his room. He tossed himself on the large bed and stared up at the ceiling in this room instead. At least he could be alone to his thoughts now. Maybe think of a way to let Wendy know that she was being stupid without making her feel like he was insulting her again. Peter groaned in frustration.

Life had been a lot simpler when they were kids. If they got into a fight they could just pull out the swords and battle it out until he won. Which of course still made her unhappy but at least it was easy. This was complicated. And if he wasn't convinced that he needed her help to somehow restore and get back to Neverland then he might not have bothered with it at all.

No one ever said that Peter Pan was ever honest with himself all the time.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Just something to keep space

**Forever**

_**Chapter Eight**_

Once, Peter had loved the weekends. They had been the source of release throughout his life because of that necessary thing known as mandatory education. And the only reason he'd gone on to university was because of that nagging feeling in his gut that told him that he needed to. Thankfully he'd listened to that gut feeling or he'd probably have never met up with Wendy again. Even if she _had_ ruined one of his weekends when he realized he couldn't find her outside of class, because of her nasty commuting habit, it was worth it. Hopefully.

So by the time that their shared class came, Peter had decided to miss it. He had been absent on purpose and thankfully it wasn't a test or any major assignment due type day. It had been what could have been an interesting topic but this was the only way he was ensured to not miss Wendy. Okay, that seems counterproductive until one realized that instead of going to class, he showed up late and hung out around the exit route. Not directly in front of the classroom doors, mind you, because that might have gotten the teacher, the TA, or other student's attention. The last thing he wanted to do was warn Wendy that he had set a trap, as basic as it was. And like the good little hunter he used to be, Peter waited until his trap was triggered.

When she got out of class, He'd grabbed her arm and started to pull her down the hall. There was another way out of the building down the way he was going. It was just that from the classroom they were in for that one class it made no sense to take it normally. However, this time it would because this time he wanted to talk with the Wendy Bird without busybodies getting in the way. Which meant that the 'scenic' route was needed.

"What are you _doing_?" Wendy asked in a scathing tone as she was led by the arm by Peter.

"Trying to talk to you," he said distractedly.

When was the last time they had been able to talk to one another - alone? Oh, that's right. When he'd ran after her and said all the wrong things after being told he sounded like a boyband. Not his finest moment, that one. They were never going to get back to Neverland if they continued on like that.

"So talk," she responded as she jerked her arm away.

Peter stopped in the middle of the hallway. He flexed his hand. It felt empty as the warmth of her skin faded. Funny how such a simple thing garnered his attention instead of the put-upon look that Wendy was giving him. It might have been because of the fact that as he stared at his hand it almost seemed to fade. When she'd first yanked her arm away from his hand, he could have sworn the skin of his palm and fingers had been glowing, just like it used to before he got trapped on Earth. But now it looked pale by comparison.

"Well?" She prompted.

There _had_ been a glow, he was sure of it. Right where he held her. And now it was gone. To Peter, that only proved that he needed Wendy to get back to Neverland.

"Peter?" Wendy tried one more time.

Peter blinked and quickly put down his hand. He was never going to get her help to get back to Neverland if he couldn't even talk to her like a human being. But where did he start?

Wendy rolled her eyes - things never changed with him. He looked like she'd cornered him or something when he was really the one that had come after her. So just as she had in her last life (oh god that still sounded crazy to her) , Wendy turned her back on him and started to walk away. Only this time it wasn't to bed. Having her bed in the middle of a school hallway would have been ridiculous and a bit inappropriate. And she didn't entirely expect his reaction. She expected him to reach out for her or hurry after her so he could say something witty. She didn't expect to be wrapped up in his arms from behind. It wasn't even that 'grab to secure' type hold, not after the first second. She could feel the warmth and care as his arms shifted down so he could run his hands along her exposed forearms.

A blush spread across her face like wildfire as she looked around with wide eyes. They'd gotten to a part of the building where it didn't seem like students really ventured down. At least not without a purpose. Probably an area of offices or labs, whatever it was that happened to take place here. Yet still she couldn't help but feel embarrassed over the display that Peter put on, using her. Somehow this felt much more...well _more_ of a display than any kiss she may have caught couples sharing on campus. And the level of prudish thinking that rose in her mind was enough to give herself pause because she'd never really pegged herself as prudish per say. But Peter was definitely making her feel like one with how comfortable he was with this (whatever _this_ was) in a public space.

"Look," he said to her in a hushed voice, slightly squeezing her wrists as his hands traveled down to trace her knuckles.

It would be a lie to say that there wasn't goosebumps on the back of her arms. Or to deny the fact that the affection didn't feel good. But again, he was making her feel like a silly prudish girl and she wasn't okay with that.

"Look," he emphasised again.

She wasn't entirely sure what she was supposed to be looking at, not really. But she figured it out when she looked down and saw where their skin was connected. Between the two different shades was something almost unseeable. A light. A light that spread more color through Peter's skin than hers as though his own body was reacting to and producing a light just by being in contact with her. Like a chemical reaction that occurred with bioluminescence.

"You're glowing?" Wendy asked in a confused, hushed voice.

She looked around trying to see if there was anyone going to call them crazy. That would be the icing on the cake - to find out that this was all in her imagination and to be on a series of pills for the rest of her life. That'd really do great for her life trajectory.

Peter murmured in agreement to her question and observation, a wide smile spreading over his face. Wendy's intake of breath made Peter smile. Good, he'd done something right. And now that she was fascinated with the glow, Peter felt like he could relax a little. She wasn't trying to run away at least. Which meant that he had more time to figure out what he needed to say.

The first time it had seemed so easy - promise her the adventure she'd always told the boys about. Well, okay, not the cinderella adventure but her own adventure none the less. One with Indian, Pirates, and Mermaids. Now it wasn't so simple. They were both bound down by responsibilities; responsibilities which he would leave behind in a heartbeat if he could. The problem was that he couldn't leave them behind. He hadn't been able to fly for more than thirty seconds in this life (and after that thirty seconds he'd had a broken arm), much less having been able to make it to Neverland. But standing there with Wendy in his arms, watching the faerie like glow fill his skin once more gave him hope. They could do this.

And the fact that warmth started to spread from where her fingers had started to trace his skin was nice to. More than nice. He was kind of regretting his decision to ambush her in public. But really what else was he supposed to have done? He didn't know where she lived and this was the only place on campus he knew she went. That was going to have to change. He was going to have to change that by whatever means he could.

"See, one girl is still worth twenty boys."

Yes, he was playing a little dirty by drawing on things he'd once said so sue him. Because by the time that lawsuit went through he planned to be back in Neverland with Wendy. How that was going to happen the young man wasn't sure just yet. Especially considering that the two of them were no longer children. By that same token, however, he knew that neither of them were exactly the adults they would have been had this been a hundred years ago either. They were the 'young adults' in modern society. Trapped between full adult responsibilities and adolescent expectations.

Wendy couldn't help but smile as what he said filtered through her mind. Oh he was going to go there was he?

"You really think so?" She questioned, a playful tone in her voice as they played out an old scenario in a new way.

"Yes. And I would know," Peter replied.

Wendy took his distracted state and moved out of his arms. The loss was felt by the both of them but she was not going to be turned into one of those silly people who only ever wanted affection from the opposite sex (or same sex...or species...depending on preferences really). She'd much rather keep her emotional independence, thank you very much. But even she couldn't deny the fact that it felt colder without him right behind her, without his arms around her. Wendy pushed those thoughts away for something a bit more amusing - like teasing him.

"I'm sure you would. But really - one girl worth twenty boys? Doesn't that seem insulting to you?"

Peter stared at her flabbergasted. One minute he was soaking up the fact that he had her undivided attention and now she was asking him about insulting situations. Nothing was adding up.

"What?" he asked as he drew back slightly, a look of utmost confusion on his face.

"I think that's like you're trying to insult boys just to get girls to like you more. Personally I like to think we're all equal."

She might have been teasing him but what she said was no less true. She didn't want to be considered better than a boy just because she was a girl simply for the fact that she knew how society had an unequal view of people based on their sex and gender. And if she and Peter were going to be friends in this life she needed to knock that out of him right now. Or at least knock out the idea that she needed to be praised or discriminated against based on her gender instead of what she could do. No one was going to call her girly like it was a bad thing and get away with it.

And the look on his face was kind of worth it. She'd definitely thrown him off of whatever path he thought he was taking. Good. She wanted to shake things up a little bit. It wasn't like she could take off with him once again back to Neverland. She had school and her parents to worry about. Not to mention her little brother. Just like before, only this time she was mature enough to realize at the beginning that leaving her responsibilities would never work out instead of waiting till she missed someone. The sooner Peter intrinsically understood that she wasn't a little girl anymore the better.

"But then again, what do I know? I'm just a squish-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence. Peter moved quickly to cover the distance. Wendy's lips twitched into a smile because teasing him was too much fun for her own good. And she continued to smile for that fraction of a second even as he put his hand over her mouth, holding onto her shoulder so she couldn't move back away.

"I didn't mean it as an insult," Peter said slowly moved his hand away, knowing that it was rude to cover people's mouths. "I _like_ that you're squishy."

"I was only teasing," Wendy explained goodnaturedly as her teasing smile faded.

For a second he seemed distracted. Wendy wasn't sure what by and out of habit she looked to where his hand was on her shoulder. There was a lot of touching going on today. A lot more than she was used to in either life.

"I wasn't," he said quickly.

And when she went to stare up at him, Wendy received one of the largest shocks in her life. Their lips connected as Peter swiftly bent down. His lips were warm and the temptation to forget that they were in the middle of a school's hallway was great. So much so that she did for a moment as she felt his other hand on the middle of her back. His fingers stretched wide before curling back in, fisting themselves in the jersey fabric of her shirt and pushing her closer to him. The closer they were through, the straighter his spine had. Wendy augmented the height difference by arching her feet to start to stand on her toes. It wasn't until she heard something acutely like footsteps that her mind went back to being alert.

Quickly her hands were brought up to his collarbone to push him away. He was stronger than he looked - not that it was an insult or anything but there was always that moment when people were stronger than they looked. Right now happened to be a moment because he really didn't want to move away. Not that she could blame him. That kiss hadn't exactly been like the one they had when they were twelve years old. It had all of that plus the hormones of adulthood, the warmth spreading through both of their bodies much quicker than either of them would have ever suspected.

And to not hurt his feelings, because really it wasn't like she hadn't liked the kiss it was just embarrassing, Wendy pulled on all her acting abilities to make a show of needing to breath. Not an over the top show mind you, but that naturalistic slow and deep breathing. She was rather a good actress at this point in life. Growing up tended to do that to people - made them pretty good liars.

Although even she needed more acting skills when he started to move them towards a wall while she 'caught' her breath. Peter's lips pressed against her cheek and her jaw in slow succession as though he'd forgotten they were in a public space.

"Peter," Wendy breathed out in disbelief when her back finally came in contact with the wall.

He moved his head away from her jaw to stare at her, nose brushing hers.

"What?" He asked.

Innocent tones should be made illegal after kisses, Wendy decided. Especially when they were coupled with puppy-like green eyes. It was like he was asking if they could go to the park or something, not that he was pressed up and holding her against a wall. Wasn't he supposed to be Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up? That was what her whole delusion was built around - the one that he seemed to share with her. Yet here they were with raging hormones doing something a bit too grownup for the image of the boy who never did.

"...We're still in the hallway," Wendy pointed out as she tried to not get distracted again.

"So?"

"So? So there are people here."

"Forget them," he breathed out in a tone that she was sure he was using just to make her embarrassed. "Forget them all."

This time she knew what was coming. And this time she turned her head so he caught her cheek instead. Wendy smiled at the indignant look on the blonde's face when he drew back. A teasing smile, coy and full. When he went back to kiss her again she did just the same thing - only this time it was the other cheek. And when she giggled out of amusement, Peter drew back more than before. His feet were almost unwilling to take the half step back that he wanted.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't you ever get embarrassed in public?" Wendy asked as she tried to decide it stepping away from the wall would be better or worse.

Peter shook his head with an intensive look in his eyes. Wendy couldn't help but stare up at him with her mouth opened slightly. He was denying the idea of getting embarrassed. Oh. Well that may fit in with the whole idea of Peter Pan but the whole kissing part really didn't.

"Well..._I_ do," she tried to explain.

"Oh."

He seemed to contemplate that idea for a moment before a grin broke out across his face. He grabbed her hand and then the next thing she knew they were running.

...Actually for short moments as they ran, Peter's feet weren't even touching the ground. For moments, scant seconds as they were, even his body started to go horizontal. After a few seconds it always returned to the vertical running position. And as they ran Wendy started to laugh. One out of the fact that they were doing something very silly. And another for the idea that something rather dirty filled her mind - Peter Pan was having a hard time getting up.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Just something to keep space

**Forever**

_**Chapter Nine**_

After what seemed like a lifetime of running it had gotten to the point where Wendy didn't know if she could continue moving let alone keep up with Peter's wild energy. They'd pretty much left behind any part of the college town she'd seen before and ventured into a residential zone. Not the apartments that she would have expected, but actual houses. The house that they stood before her as Peter finally stopped was very aesthetically pleasing. On the front side there were three dormer windows which only became dormers around the top of each window. The left and right window were directly above the first floor's windows and the one in the middle above the door. To the side of the house, though it could barely be seen through the vegetation, was a patio with a full patio set, sheltered by a wall behind it, the trees in front, a lattice to the right and a roof over it. And to the left side of the house she could see a fireplace's chimney poking out.

If Wendy ever had to pick a home to live in that didn't consist of being made inside of a tree, this would definitely have been a contender. At least based on its outside appearance. It wasn't like the one she remembered in london, not quite. It didn't have as many stories and it was wider than that. There were certain architectural features that definitely didn't match up but all in all, it was wonderful. A mixture of an older world and a modern one.

Peter watched with a somewhat mischievous, self satisfied smile as Wendy took in the house. He _knew_ she would like it. There hadn't been a doubt in the world over it. Okay, there had been a lot of doubts but he was Peter Pan so obviously he couldn't admit he was relieved. Once he was sure she'd had enough time to take it in with her eyes, Peter started pulling at her hand towards the door. He stopped for the briefest of moments to unlock it. Opening it he'd almost let her go in first.

But then, suddenly as Wendy started forward, he was scooping her up. His hands has a firm grasp around her knee and her shoulder as Wendy's surprise filled his ears. He could feel the tenseness in her body and he waited a second as she realized that she wasn't about to fall anytime soon. Peter grinned at her very confused face as he stepped over the threshold to the house, a bundle of nerves he'd never say he had knotting in his stomach and moving their way down.

"Welcome home, mother," Peter said playfully.

Wendy laughed at what she assumed was an old game rising to the surface. Her eyes took in everything with a fierce curiosity. The walls were not, as she would have expected, brick. In fact they were wooden planks. Like the modern interpretation of living inside of a tree. The very thought brought a smile to her face. How very perfect this place was. Most of the covered furniture and fabric, including the rug on the wooden floor, was done in shades of white. And from what she could see of the living room to her left and the small dining room with a modest circular table to her right it really did have all the fixings of a traditional home. Including some bric a brac. She hadn't spent a lot of time in a traditional home since her parents had divorced.

As her eyes searched the place, Peter decided that she'd had plenty of time. She'd get to see the house later. With a bit of a jostle, Peter moved the both of them through the living room to the staircase which was pressed up against the back wall. Carrying Wendy upstairs was tricker, especially considering that she had tried to get down and he had to adjust his hold. He was also slightly distracted by the flower patterned bra which was pretty easy to see as the neckline of her shirt was, like the rest of it, loose and made of a cotton-jersey. Which meant that he'd gotten more of an eyeful than a gentleman would ever admit to seeing and promptly righted his head so he wasn't looking down at all. Made going up the stairs a bit tricker.

"Do you live with your parents?" Wendy asked half way up the stairs.

Peter looked down in surprise before quickly righting his head with a blush forming over the bridge of his nose. "No. It's just me."

"Oh. You live in a house this big all by yourself?"

"There are three lost boys with me."

Wendy's mouth opened in surprise as they got to the top stair. The lost boys were a real thing too? She should have known. After all, the striking similarities between the group she'd seen Peter in and her memories of them had been what'd scared her away at one point.

"Are you going to set me down?"

Peter shook his head with a mischievous smile, the blush all but forgotten under the new emotion. He'd told her he didn't get embarrassed in public which was true, for the most part. That didn't meant that he couldn't feel embarrassment. It was just really easy for him to replace with another emotion. Like what was currently happening in that head of his. His hands squeezed around her as he walked down the narrow hallway to his own bedroom. He practically kicked the door open and did, actually, kick it closed behind them.

Even when he'd moved over to the bed and heard the gasp from Wendy which promised mutiny, Peter didn't let her go. He climbed up with his hold still on her until they were in the center of the bed. Then he'd slowly let go of her knees so when he'd twisted and fell down into the soft mattress, she was laying down beside him. His stretched out across her back, still holding her shoulder.

"I made that mistake once. I'm not doing it again," Peter said as he stared up at the slightly slanted ceiling.

"What mistake?" Wendy asked was she moved to sit up.

Peter ended up sitting right back up with her, his hand still clasped around that one shoulder.

"Letting you go."

The blush which had given her skin a healthy pink look prior to this bloomed full force. There had been such conviction in his voice that Wendy had no idea how to handle the situation. It hadn't been sexual sounding so much as a promise of some sort. In fact other than the fact that they were currently in a bed in a bedroom which she could only assume was his, this moment had nothing to suggest that it was anything less than innocent.

Wendy pushed some of her fallen hair behind her shoulder so she could see Peter's face. "I don't think you have to take it so literally Peter."

"Of course I do," He said fiercely. "If I always have a hand on you, how can I lose you again?"

"You never lost me. I mean, you could have visited."

Peter snorted. "You wanted to forget about Ne-"

This time it was Wendy's turn to cut him off. She pushed at his shoulder "I never wanted to forget about Neverland or you Peter. It just...happened."

"It always does," Peter said in a resigned, almost dark tinged tone.

"I remember remembering though," Wendy cut in before he could get any more depressing.

It was Peter's turn to look surprised. Although he wasn't sure why he should be. This was Wendy after all. She could never have really forgotten about their adventures in Neverland. Never have really forgotten about _them_.

"You did?" Peter asked, wishing he could move his hand but unwilling to let her go for even a second.

Wendy nodded. "I remember waking up in a...I think it was a bomb shelter, like those backyard ones that got built. The second war, not the first. And I remember suddenly remembering you and everything that went with it. And I-"

"You what?" He was entranced.

"I remember crying," Wendy said with hesitation in her voice. "I remember crying when my husband came home from the second war too, because I knew that you never would."

Peter's mind caught on one word. And it was the one that everyone should have expected.

"Your _husband_?" His voice pulled down to a whisper of disgust as jealousy ate at his insides.

"Yes. My _husband_," Wendy emphasised that word again.

She noticed how much tighter Peter's hand had gotten around her shoulder cap. The wave of possession were hard to miss. Some part of her was flattered at it, the part that really just wanted someone to think they were worth fighting for. The other part of her was slightly confused and annoyed. What right did he have to be anything resembling angry when he had never come back for her in the first place? Sure she had wanted to go home in that life, to see her mother and father again. But that didn't mean she never wanted to see him again. In fact there had been many times she remembered looking up at the stars, wondering when Peter was going to come and take her back for another adventure. And, though a proper girl of the time would never have admitted to it, she remembered some intimate dreams starring him. Not the kind of sex-dreams that girls now a days had but for her young mind they had been enough. And then somehow she blocked out the memory of him until that one day...

"What did you expect Peter?" Wendy asked in a whisper as she turned her face away. "I was a respectable lady of society...I had to get married at some point."

"No you didn't."

"Yes I did," she argued back. "In that life I'd had a taste of caring for people...I wanted to be a mother so I had to get married."

"You _were_ a mother," Peter said scathingly.

The fact that he was still gripping onto her shoulder with enough force to break a delicate glass annoyed her now. Gone were the flattered touches of his jealousy. Now all she wanted to do was get away from him. She really didn't need to be made to feel like she'd done something wrong. Or that the previous life of hers had for that matter.

"_You_ were the one that told me it was all pretend," She shot back.

As she said so, she had pulled Peter's hand off of her shoulder and gotten up out of the bed. She was not going to be made to feel bad about things she couldn't control. Especially when he was the one who had left her alone for so many years that she'd forgotten one of the most important things in her life. Lives. Whatever the case was.

Her scathing retort did little to quell the jealous monster which had taken root inside of his body. Suddenly all he could think about was the fact that she'd been happy with some other man while he'd been frantically trying to fix neverland so he could bring her back. All he could see was her kissing some other man when _he_ was the one who was supposed to be the only person who had her hidden kiss.

"_You_ were the one who didn't want it to be, not me!" Peter practically shouted.

Wendy's mouth closed and a rather scary stillness took over her body from Peter's perspective. He could see and feel her eyes searching his face as he held up the strong front. Right until he saw the quiver and her eyes start to moistening. It was when she'd turned around sharply to the door that he realized exactly how his words sounded. Like the entire relationship hadn't meant anything to him, that he'd just been humoring her that entire time.

Peter scrambled off of the bed and tried to hurry after her.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Just something to keep space

**Forever**

_**Chapter Ten**_

Wendy could feel the knot in her stomach as she hurried out of the room. Peter's words kept running through her head like a bad movie. The look of outrage on his face made it even worse. He had been humoring her this whole time. He knew that she had feelings for him in the past life and had confirmed that against all odds they had transferred over. Then he denied the existence of his own feelings - that he had just wanted everything to be an act. Like some sick, twisted game of pretend. The game that he had started up all those years ago and which had, for her at least, morphed into something a whole lot more.

She tried to hurry out of the house before Peter caught up with her. The key word being tried here. With her legs still feeling like some type of rubber band from the run to the house and her stomach feeling like she was going to be sick, Wendy was in no condition to out run the very determined Peter Pan...even if this was a reborn version of him. Just because her body wasn't up for the task it didn't mean that her indignation was lessened.

When he caught her wrist at the end of the stairs, Wendy tried to yank it away. She spun around, pushing at his chest in an attempt to get him to stay away.

"I'm done playing! Done!" The words tore their way through her constricting throat before she had time to stop them.

She started to turn back around but Peter caught her once more, calling out the same thing he had been since she started off - just her name. Like it was a mantra that was going to make everything alright again. Maybe for him it did but Wendy couldn't see that. Her eyes were too clouded, her stomach was too knotted, and she was just too _tired_ of everything that had happened to see the emotions in his boyishly green eyes.

"Leave me alone!" Wendy spewed out passionately, each word heavily emphasised as though there was a dire need for those mid sentence pauses.

Wendy tried to turn back around, though her legs were protesting at it, but Peter was quicker. He pushed her into the wall at the end of the stairs, one hand grabbing at her wrists and the other trying to cover her mouth. Sure he knew it wasn't exactly the most gentlemen of things to do but how could he try to explain anything if she kept talking? And it wasn't like he wanted to keep her quiet forever. It was just that he needed to explain because he realized that something very important had gotten lost in translation.

So focused on the emotionally distraught Wendy, Peter never noticed that the door to the house opened up. He also didn't notice that three not so lost boys had moved into the house.

He did notice that Wendy's attention moved over to them when one of them spoke out: "Mother and Father are fighting again."

"Go!" Peter said harshly to the people he currently viewed as intruders.

With his attention diverted to where her's had seemingly gone, Peter never realized what was happening. Wendy had managed to wiggle enough to that his hand barely covered her mouth. And a moment later, her teeth were biting down. Peter's head whipped back around as he let out a pain filled hiss. He pulled his hand away from her mouth as she cast him a vicious, tear filled look. That was the most dirty, underhanded move he'd ever seen! ...well, felt. Considering that he'd faced Hook back in the day that really did say something.

Instead of letting up like she no doubt expected him to do, Peter switched to holding both of her hands to her side and made sure that she couldn't bring her knee up and hit him either. If she was willing to go for the biting of the hand, he wasn't going to put a knee to the groin past her. She had been the one invited to piracy after all.

Before he got to utter one word, however, Peter felt himself being pulled back. The lost boys, who were quite easily just his size if not larger now, had tugged him away from Wendy. His eyes searched her face as she let out a deep breath, though she couldn't move away from the wall for whatever reason. Peter struggled against the three people he _used_ to call friends.

As he almost made headway, Wendy finally seemed to be able to summon the energy to move. She started away from the wall and through the living room as Peter struggled to get loose.

"Wendy! Wendy wait!"

"No!" She called back in a whipish voice.

"You should have waited! I was trying to fix Neverland for you, for us!" Peter called out in a desperate attempt to get her to hear him out.

He was rewarded by her stoppin at the door, using the beam for support. But she wouldn't look back at him and he wasn't sure what hurt more. The fact that his own lost boys had turned on him or the fact that Wendy wouldn't turn around to face him.

"You should have waited! I - I," His voice broke.

No matter what he felt, Peter couldn't bring himself to say it aloud. Not in front of other people and not when she wasn't even facing him. He wouldn't, in fact, because even he had to draw the line somewhere. And he wasn't going to cross that line just because of some misunderstanding that she had blown way out of proportion.

"I was trying to fix Neverland!" Peter covered back up as he stopped struggling against the three ex-friends (for surely they were never his friends now). "So I could bring you back. Because I wanted you there. Even if it was only for sometimes visits."

"What?" Wendy finally brought herself to ask, even though she couldn't bring herself to turn back.

Peter's lack of struggling and Wendy's almost acceptance must have clued the guys holding Peter that they could let go. Slightly was the last one to let go and he eyed Peter to make sure that the shorter young man wasn't going to do anything too brash. Peter didn't even take a step forward as he tried to gather his thoughts. He had to do this much quicker than ever before. He had to tell her the truth and make her understand what he'd meant. There really wasn't anything else he could do.

But he was _not_ going to talk about feelings, on that he was resolved.

"Neverland got sick."

"Islands can't get sick, Peter," Wendy's voice was a whisper as she stared out into the yard.

"Neverland can. And did. The island was sick. The mermaids became rock statues in the lagoon. Fish were frozen in their place. Not by frost or anything, they just stopped moving and then they stayed that way. The Indians all started to fade away, like some sort of magic cancer or something. And the Pirates...the boat sank. Even the Fairies turned into stone. Magic was leaking away. I was trying to find the link so I could bring you _home_ because it wasn't all pretend for me either. It wasn't. It _isn't._"

...that was as close to talking about his feelings as he was going to get.

He didn't even realize how animated he had gotten around the end, nor the fact that he'd taken a few steps closer to her. The lost boys were at the back of his mind, a silent threat that if he got out of hand again they were going to remove him from Wendy once more. Bitterly he decided that if they tried that he was going to skin them all and then hang them out to dry. They didn't know what it was like to watch their home wither and die. They didn't know what it was like to feel the shadows of gray and black seeping into their very pores as all their happy thoughts turned against them. They had left him a long time ago. They had chosen to grow up without him.

The worst thing about it was that they had gotten to grow up with their 'Mother'. Meanwhile Peter had been alone in early (and mid) twentieth century Europe. He couldn't remember every day but he could remember enough of the feeling to know that it was not something he'd wish on anyone. Not even Hook.

"Neverland...neverland is gone?" Wendy asked as she turned around, still using the doorframe as a support.

Peter didn't know what to tell her. He really didn't. So he kept his silence and just shrugged, biting his lip.

"I was trying to fix the island. That's why I didn't come to get you. But I never found out how to bring the magic back and eventually I couldn't...I couldn't do anything," Peter tried to explain. "And then all of a sudden I fell, straight into the streets of London. They looked very different when I was flying so I couldn't find you. I didn't know your address and no one would help me. Tink was gone."

"Oh Peter," Wendy said in a sympathetic tone.

She was still a little messed up with her own emotions but at the same time she couldn't help but feel bad for him. From everything she knew, it would not have been a fun time for him to grow up. Especially not on his own without the love and support of family.

"You should have waited, Wendy. You should have waited."

Knowing that his own words were knotting up in his throat like her emotions had done inside of her stomach, Wendy said nothing. She gripped onto the wooden beam and didn't move forward. Her whole body ached and refused to do much of anything anyways. Besides, she knew that she was an emotional ball of nerves right now and from the look of things so was he. Exposed nerves should never come into contact with another set of exposed nerves.

"Boys, do you think you could get me some water?" Wendy asked as she licked her lips.

This was all so awkward knowing that they had seen the both of them break down. It was an embarrassment that Wendy wasn't sure if she was ready to live up to so she was going to try and push it from her mind as quickly as possible. Besides, she was actually thirsty. And it would give her a chance to focus on something other than the petulant sea which had flooded her guts.

Thankfully she wasn't the only one who wanted to escape the awkwardness that had become the living room. Slightly took on the task of getting her a glass of water while the twins made themselves scarce upstairs. Wendy shakingly moved over to the couch as Peter took a seat in the single armchair.

The tense air couldn't sliced through even with a hot butter knife, that's how thick and dense it was. Wendy sipped on her water, her eyes downcast and her thoughts trying to focus on anything other than the very intense pair of eyes staring at her. It was the quickest way to fail, she found. And she might have almost choked on her water more than once as a dry sob or two refused to leave her be. She tried her best to calm herself down after such an emotional rollercoaster but once floodgates were opened it was hard to stop. Thankfully it wasn't a whole snot running out of the nose affair so much as it was body shaking and holding back emotional tears. She wasn't sure if she was sad or happy about the news. After a while, Wendy decided she was definitely sad. There was far too much bad things to think about to not be.

"Wendy?" Peter questioned in a small voice.

Wendy tried her best to look at him while remaining calm but she couldn't manage more than a few seconds before she had to look away.

"Wendy? Are we okay?"

She let out a shaky breath. Were they?

"I don't know Peter," she said in an honest tone. "I don't know what _I_ am right now, so I don't know what _we_ are."

He moved so he was kneeling in front of her, his face as serious and imploring as it could ever be. "I'm Peter Pan...and you're the Wendy Bird."

She tried to crack an amused smile at that but it might have looked more like a grimace. Her lips trembled as she stared down into her lap, trying to get her body back under her control. Maybe it was lucky that Peter had been able to get her to stop because at this rate, she probably would have been hit by a car or something. She could barely see clearly out of her hazy eyes yet she refused to release all the tears that welled up under the disassociated emotional torrent.

"You realize I grew up thinking that it was all just a dream right? This time, or...or whatever it is."

"It's not a dream," he tried to insist in an indignant voice. "I'm here, and I'm plenty real."

"And then I was pretty sure I was going mad," Wendy continued. "Especially when I saw you on that first day. I thought I had crossed the line from slightly obsessional to full on psychotic. Like they should probably put me away for everyone's safety."

"You're _not_ crazy," he insisted in a stronger voice.

"Are you sure?" Wendy asked. "Cause this whole thing feels crazy. Certifiable."

"It's all real. I don't know how or why we got do to this...whatever this life is. I just know that we did. And that's all there is to it," Peter spoke out as he moved up from his kneeling position to take a seat next to her.

He brought her hand up to his chest so she could feel his heartbeat. After everything that had happened it was beating a little fast, but that made it all the easier to feel. He wanted to make sure that she knew that this was real. He wanted to push aside all the doubts but he, as proven from this whole situation, was apparently not very good at words. At least not with her; not with something as important as this.

"Uh, guys," one of the twins said as they peaked down from the top of the stairs.

Peter's glare promised that skinning he'd been thinking about from earlier. Wendy shoved at him as she shakingly brought up: "What?"

"You should turn on the TV," twin one said.

"There's something you should see," twin two continued.

When they did and the channel was on the local news...Wendy's mouth dropped open and she couldn't keep the tears back anymore. Not after what she had just seen. Her entire body flooded with so many different emotions as thousands upon thousands of dark thoughts filled her mind.

The bridge had been blown up. The bridge that she took to get to and from school. The only one that linked the two towns, heck the only way to get to either town from the other one. Which meant that she was cut off from her family.

What was she going to _do_?


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry about how long it took me to write this. Sitting down and actually starting it took the longest if you can believe that. It's not that I don't enjoy writing or this story, it's just that life has so many things to throw that I'm still digging my way out of the pile.

**Forever**

_**Chapter Eleven**_

It felt much longer than it was when Wendy stood up. Peter jumped up as though a shot had gone off before relaxing at her mumble of 'bathroom'. He managed to get out a basic description of where it was ('upstairs' is all he said) before she walked off. His eyes trailed her as she trudged up the stairs. To him it looked like there was a thousand bricks hanging off her back to slow her down. He looked back to the TV before it finally clicked in his mind - that was the bridge to where Wendy lived. Without that bridge she couldn't get home. At least not the normal way.

Quickly Peter wondered if they would send helicopters to get those who were stranded on this side. It would obviously have to be for the people who had family on the other side. And it would probably be a one way type deal. If they sent a helicopter and Wendy went on it, Peter reasoned she wouldn't be able to come back. Which meant that it would be a _long_ time before they'd get to see one another again. An emergency bridge would have to be built and who knows how long that would take. It would be too long no doubt. And then it would be _years_ before a commercial bridge could be set in place no doubt. Years where they would be apart.

Peter shook his head furiously. That wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to just not see her for years because of some silly little bridge. He had made the mistake of letting her go home without him _once_ and once was far too much in his opinion.

He clicked the TV back off before going up the stairs himself. He could hear water running coming from the bathroom. He pressed his ear to the door to try and see if he could hear anything else but that was it. Despite how small the upstairs rooms might seem sometimes, they were all very well built. The whole house was made out of sturdy brick and thick wood, and the upstairs (along with the downstairs kitchen and mudroom) had the benefit of a layer of plaster so they could paint over it the wood and brick. Which meant that try as he might Peter couldn't hear anything more than the water running.

But then the water turned off and he was left with nothing but the sound of his own heartbeat and breathing. Which of course he tried to minimize because he didn't want to come off as _worried_ or anything. He'd been trying to think of all the ways to convince her to stay on this side of the bridge for when the rescue copter came (he was already assuming it would). The problem was that Peter in his infinite wisdom and cleverness had figured out that recently when he said things they had a habit of getting misunderstood by Wendy. So convincing her of the benefits of staying in this town would probably only want to make her leave (read as leave _him_) all that much more.

Wendy opened the door to come face to face with Peter. For her part, her face was freshly washed. Her eyes were rimmed in a subtle red tone from the crying that she'd managed to staunch the flow of. Peter's had wide, searching eyes as he looked at her. The look made her feel at least a foot shorter than she was and a whole lot smaller all around. It wasn't a cruel look, just searching. Like he was looking for an answer far greater than either of them.

Then, nearly without warning, his hands were in her hair and his lips pressed against hers. He was so sure about his movement that it took Wendy completely off guard. She backed into a beam of the doorway and Peter followed suit without missing a beat. His lips were warm and soft as they slanted against hers. Knots twisted inside of her stomach as he pressed her further back into the beam, his body radiating an undeniable and welcoming heat. Her hands quivered beside her as Peter's grip on her head and hair was used to tilt her head to the side. As she started to close her eyes she realized that one of the other boys in the house had just looked out only to quickly close their bedroom door once more. It was a stark reminder of the situation which brought a vaguely familiar embarrassment along with it. He never seemed to notice the fact that a blush which would put a strawberry to shame had started to color her face. She could feel him trailing down the side of her neck with a near frantic pace.

Wendy pushed against him. Peter looked at her with a dazed sort of confusion as she untangled herself from the cocoon he had become. He caught her hand as she started to move away, intent on keeping her as close as possible. He figured that if he kept her busy and focused on him, this time in a positive way, then she'd not even think about getting on any old smelly helicopter.

As quickly as she could, which wasn't very quick considering that Peter had somehow become a very touchy-feely octopus in their time apart, Wendy moved away from him and towards the bedroom where her school bag was. She had parents to call and a _lot_ to figure out. Most of it didn't involve getting embarrassed in the middle of a hallway again. This time had even been worse. She could blissfully pretend that no one had seen them in the school hallway that first time. This time Wendy knew for _sure_ that one of the lost boys had seen them. She could feel the embarrassment set in even as she thought about what they must think. What they must think of _her_ to be exact.

Peter on the other hand couldn't care less about what anyone saw. Or at least that's what he'd like to believe. What he was more interested in was the fact that Wendy had moved towards the bedroom. Boyish green eyes weren't _exactly_ the model for innocence as he hurried after her. After he was in, Peter closed the door and locked it behind him.

Wendy peered around the edge of the bed trying to find her bag, which looked more like a slightly oversized purse, so she could get her cell phone. But before she could straighten back up the octopus named Peter Pan had latched back onto her. Wendy's eyes widened as she felt his chest through a single layer of thin jersey-cotton. His arms were wrapped around her from behind while his hands were far from idle. Wendy caught the both of them shortly after they started to invade her clothes.

"_Peter_," Wendy hissed out in a quiet voice.

As though it were somehow all the answer she needed, Peter 'hmmed'. She thought she had gotten his attention so she let go of his hands and started to take a step forward. Her breath was in a quick rhythm from the sensation of what he'd started _again_ and from the surprise of how quickly it was all going. It was really too bad that she didn't have time to catcher breath.

Wendy felt herself being pulled down onto the bed before she even had time to get his name out again. It was Peter's nimble quickness that should have been the real surprise. She was underneath him with hands intertwined above his head and lips occupied by his before she knew it. Wendy's fingers flexed around his at the pleasant sensation. She didn't even notice when one of his hands left hers until the button to her jeans were undone and his hand started to zip below the beltline.

"Peter, Peter stop," Wendy said.

A part of her wished she wasn't so good at keeping track of what _needed_ to be done and putting it before what she wanted to be done. The same part of her which really, _really_ liked the sensations which Peter fired up in her. It was also the same part of her mind which was highly distracted by the fact that he had already gotten rid of his shirt. Another part of her was distracted by the fact that Peter Pan was _glowing_ with that golden hue once more.

"Why?" He asked, not even bothering to try and clear his voice first.

Wendy could feel her insides shudder at that. "Because I need to call my dad-"

"No!" Peter drew back with an angry look on his face.

"Yes I do," Wendy said with an affronted tone. "They're probably really worried. I have to let mom and dad know I'm okay."

"You're not getting on that helicopter, Wendy. I'm _not_ going to let you."

Wendy blinked as she pushed Peter off of her. She dragged herself so that she was sitting up beside him as she stared at the outrage and fury on his face.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded to know.

"The bridge is gone. So they're going to try and get people back with their families. You are not going to go back," Peter stated passionately.

"_Peter_," Wendy stressed.

"No!" he practically shouted.

"My da-"

"No!"

She tried this a few more times. Each time Peter would cut her off in that most childish fashion. And each time she'd take a deep breath he seemed to take it as the end of the conversation. Which apparently meant that he could go back to kissing her. After the sixth time, Wendy finally got fed up and switched her tactics. It was a tactic that was underhanded and even as she thought about it, everything on her body went scarlet. But it had to be done.

When he was more occupied with the side of her neck she leaned into his ear. "I need…"

She paused for a moment, half expecting the 'no' to pop out of his mouth. It didn't and she was thankful for that. What did happen was that she felt him ground down against her for the first time. Wendy squeezed her eyes closed as she resisted the urge to tense up. Peter was already _tense_ enough for the both of them apparently.

"I need," she tried again, swallowing thickly.

Same reaction from Peter. She could feel the strain in his lower body even through his jeans. Vaguely she wondered if that was even comfortable at that point. Wendy had a feeling that it wasn't. But then again, judging by the look on his face it seemed like it was...somehow.

Wendy slowly turned them over. For once, Peter wasn't putting up a fight. She felt extremely guilty at that moment but he really had given her no choice. If he was going to be a child who denied her the right to talk while at the same time being a horn dog who had other things on his mind, then she was going to use all means at her disposal. Which meant that as soon as he was laying under her this time, Wendy put her plan into motion.

She threw herself off the side of the bed. Peter sat up abruptly, not that she could see it. She was too busy hurrying under the bed like it was a bomb shelter. She had even remembered to tuck her legs underneath too. A sort of smile wormed its way onto her face as she heard Peter's reaction even if she couldn't see it.

Oh hey, there's where her backpack went.

Wendy reached out for it. It was at the edge of the bed, half peaking out through the bed skirt. When her hand finally grabbed a hold of it, Peter pulled her out. The floor was well cared for (miraculously) and she still had all her clothes on (another miracle) so it didn't hurt to get pulled back out from under the bed. The look on his face when she triumphantly held out her cell phone was almost worth it too.

"What-" Peter started out.

This time it was Wendy's turn to stop him. She got to her knees and put her hand over his mouth.

"Peter I love you. But if you try to stop me from what I want to do _again_, I'm going to rethink my plan of staying with you here while the bridge mess gets sorted out. Understand?"

When she removed her hand from his mouth, all the mighty Peter Pan could do was gape at her.


	12. Chapter 12

**Forever**

_**Chapter Twelve**_

There were conversations that were awkward to have with parents. When girls started their period for example. There were ones that were nice to have, like when someone gets accepted into college. And then there was the conversation that Wendy just had with her dad - it had been terrifying. He'd been one part fear and another part rage. She'd never really heard him be that angry before and yet at the same time she'd never heard nearly that level of panic in his voice.

She'd almost been convinced that he was going to traipse across the marshlands and river on foot to get to her. She could almost see him doing that actually. But no matter how brave of an adventurer she'd have like to think of herself as she also knew that she wouldn't want to make the return trip with him. Her father's rage and fear might have made him think illogically about all the dangers that trying to cross that expanse on foot would include but she was slightly removed from that. Yes she was upset that she wouldn't get to see her parents or her brother but Wendy was a bit more practical than her father. She understood that the chances of coming out of such a trek unscathed were small.

Once she was across she knew she wouldn't be able to make that trip twice a day. Which meant that she'd fail her classes and she couldn't exactly afford to do that on the scholarship and grants that were paying her way. She doubted her school would come to a quick conclusion about what to do with the commuters who were both out of town and in the town. She'd been relatively lucky that Peter had no qualms what so ever about her staying at his house and the boys' house in town for free. Not everyone was going to be so lucky. In fact, she felt quite bad for the others because the cost of renting anything, especially on short notice, in town was enough to bankrupt someone who hadn't been ready for that. And likely if they weren't already in the town there was a reason for that. She had no idea what they were going to do. All she knew was that she had a place to stay while the bridge was sorted out.

So what if her dad thought she had her own bedroom, with a lock, at the house? She had known from the very sound of him when she even mentioned the oh so terrifying name Peter that he hadn't been happy. In fact, that's probably where most of his rage had come from. The same paternal rage that she had a feeling any father would have at the situation. Although his was at an extreme level all things considering. It wasn't like Peter was hurting her in the least. He might be a bit childish and brutish (her dad didn't have to know that) but he hadn't _really_ hurt her. Although if he thought he could push her around like he'd been trying to do earlier he had another thought coming.

Wendy took a deep breath as she slipped the phone back into her pocket with shaking hands. The stress of the day really was overwhelming. She couldn't _believe_ how much had happened in just a short time. Peter had sort of apologized to her about his rude comments the other day (if she squinted really hard and gave him the benefit of the doubt), she'd seen him glow, they'd kissed in public, they'd run all the way from class to his house where she'd been pretty sure he'd almost flown again. Then when they got there Peter proceeded to show her to his bedroom where they got into a fight that spurred him into making a heartfelt declaration as a way to try and make amends. Wendy was still going to hold to the idea that he'd been in the wrong, not her, regardless. In that declaration she'd learned that Neverland was gone and he'd been cast out into post World War 1 London as an orphan boy. And as they started to make up their differences over that fight she'd found out about the bridge. Oh and that Peter kept thinking he could control what she did by distracting her.

Yeah, it was a rollercoaster of a day and she was kind of emotionally exhausted. And that was _before_ she got to talk with her father. That conversation had only made it worse.

As Wendy continued to stare out into the greenery of the overgrown back yard one of the twins came out to her. It was strange to think about them at all, really, considering that they used to be so much shorter than her. But here they were looking like full grown men. Which she supposed they were. After all, it wasn't like they were the _exact_ twins that she'd gone to neverland just like she wasn't the _exact_ Wendy. It was like it had been another life. Or something like that. Something that had run parallel to her life as it was right now. Only she couldn't remember every detail about the original Wendy's life. She couldn't remember the street name which she'd grown up on, she couldn't remember the exact proper etiquette she was sure she would have had to learn growing up in a well thought of family, or things like that. She remembered the basics mostly. Yet she remembered every little second of her time in Neverland - every little thing about her magical adventures.

The strangest thing was that this world knew about them too. She'd read and seen various renditions about Peter Pan. She'd seen herself written and drawn, played out by actors. They'd not gotten the details right but there was the general facts that everyone seemed to know. Which was exactly why she'd been afraid that she'd been going crazy for so long. She still kind of felt like she was going crazy but it was hard to deny the draw of accepting everything about the situation as it was.

"Come on mother," one of the twin's said as he moved in closer.

Wendy looked up with wide eyes. Okay, being called _mother_ was just weird. She knew it had been a game oh so long ago, knew that it was supposed to have all been pretend. But in some wierd way she could recognize how it might not have been completely pretend for some of the lost boys. After all they'd come back with her for the simple fact that they had missed having a family and she had filled that void in their life enough to get them attached to her.

"What?"

"Slightly made dinner," the closest twin said as the farther one finished up, "and father insists we all eat together."

She got the quick impression that didn't happen very often. It was odd enough of a situation that they thought to mention it at least. Without a fuss, the young adult stood up and walked into the house. Instantly she was hit with the scent of garlic bread and spaghetti. A smile drifted over her face as she realized that if this had been way back then, in that other life, then it was a scent that promised a messy affair. Right now though she was hoping it wouldn't be too messy - she only had one outfit until she could go shopping and she didn't want it to get stained.

Which only brought up another thing to strike her with anxiety - she totally did not have enough money for another wardrobe on top of the basics she was going to have to get to last her. Then there was the fact that they were letting her stay for free that she didn't know how to repay. Wendy didn't like the idea that she was going to be in their debt even if they didn't exactly see it the same way as she did. But how could she pick up a job on top of all the coursework she was doing? Then again, considering she wasn't having to spend hours traveling back and forth for awhile maybe it wouldn't be too hard to pick up a part time job. She was going to have to start that tonight to get a jump on everyone who had the same idea. Somehow she got a feeling that all the jobs suitable and flexible enough for college students was going to be eaten up pretty quickly.

The twins led her back into the small dining room where Peter already sat. Slightly followed behind them holding a huge bowl of noodles, sauce, and meat. Wendy took a seat at the table and scooted over as one of the twins found a way to wedge another seat in there. As the bowl was sat down in the middle of the small table it was like a zoo. Instantly the boys started to reach for things, practically fighting over who got what first. Slightly and the Twins seemed the most enthused in this game while Peter just trudged through them to take what he wanted. Wendy on the other hand just sat back and let it happen. No way was she jumping into that fray - besides despite how good it smelled after all of the gut wetching things she wasn't that hungry.

It wasn't until the Peter and Slightly started to stab at eachother's hands with their forks that she interrupted. Wendy stood up and put her arms between the two of them. This put her nearly cheek to face with Peter as she pushed them apart. She was about to have them really stab each other because they couldn't decide who got the largest meat ball. So without consulting them she picked the meat ball up and put it on her still clean plate, reaching across the table to do so. Slightly leaned back in utter embarrassment as a blush warmed his cheeks at how she'd had to lean across the table. Peter glared at him which made the situation worse considering that Wendy was oblivious to the jealousy and unspoken warning that radiated off of the prior prince of Neverland.

Wendy moved back and walked around to grab her plate. She switched it with Slightly's and waited for him to stand up. He did so and they awkwardly moved around until Wendy had taken his place instead. At least that put her between him and Peter. As the dinner approached something near normal, Wendy started to poke at the meatball that she'd put on her plate to stop that fight. Thankfully none of the boys noticed that she hadn't really started to eat.

What finally got their notice was that as the sun went down no one had turned on the lights. One of the twins had been the first to get up and they turned around. Wendy watched as their mouth dropped. Her eyes turned to their line of sight. Despite the fact that the sun had set and cast the room into dim lighting, Peter still retained a perfect, vibrant tan for everyone to see. At least that's how it looked from affair. Up close, now that she was paying attention, Wendy could spot that the fairy like glow was back. It was much dimmer than someone like Tinkerbell or the fairy queen and king that Wendy had seen (even the other fairies that surrounded them) but it was more than it had been before.

"Peter," the others said in surprise.

"What?" He asked between bites.

Wendy smiled as she watched the other three all look between each other. It wasn't her first time seeing the glow just beneath the skin on him this day but it was the first time that the boys had seen it. It was also the first time where she wasn't actually touching him.

It took a minute for Peter to realize what they'd all noticed. But after the smile had come over his face, he started to go back to eating. Wendy laughed as he looked up seemingly bewildered.

"What?"

"You're getting back to your old self you are," Slightly said with a smile stretching across his face.

The light was turned on before one of those twins sat back down. Eventually Wendy was sure she was going to have to put a name to them because so far they'd just been called _the twins_. That might have worked for a short period on Neverland but she had a feeling that it wouldn't work for too long.

"Of course I am," Peter said in a matter of fact tone as he stared at Slightly. "What else did you think I would do?"

Slightly shrugged. "Grow up and get a job like any other person?"

"HA!" Peter's voice boomed. "You can't make me."

While the boys bickered goodnaturedly and teased Peter on the idea of continuing to grow up, Wendy pushed back from the table and went to clean up her plate. She stood at the sink and took in a deep shaky breath. The day was exhausting and it technically wasn't even over yet. She really wanted for it to be over.

As she gripped onto the kitchen sink she heard one of the twins call out, "Where'd it go? Where's your glow gone Peter?"

Somehow that made Wendy feel the weight of a hard knot in her stomach once more. It might have been something to amuse herself with (the fact that he was having a hard time peter-ing up) on the run to his house but it could turn into something quite serious. If he couldn't keep up whatever it was that allowed him to be fairy like then how was he ever going to get back to flying on his own? Without flight there was no chance of seeing if he could somehow revive neverland. Although the worst thing that would happen if that was the case would be that he really would need to grow up and get a job just like anyone else. After everything that she'd heard, Wendy wasn't sure if he'd mentally or emotionally survive that realization. If he couldn't find a way to fly once more the young woman had a feeling that he would rather die.

"Where'd Wendy go?"

Wendy took another deep breath and turned back around the corner till she could be seen from the kitchen. "What's the matter?"

"Mother, Father's dying!"

Wendy rolled her eyes at the purposeful dramatics. But she humored the amusing (yet serious in it's own right) scene before her. She went up to look into Peter's eyes, turned his head this way and that before pressing the back of her hand to his forehead. The longer she kept her hand there the warmer he got. And color spread from the contact just like it had back at the school. It was shocking to see but she tried not to make a big deal of it. Her hand slowly fell from his forehead as her eyes searched his face as she leaned down. The excess color faded from his skin before the three Lost Boys had time to realize that it had reappeared.

"He will live," Wendy said in a solemn tone.

"Are you sure?" One of the twins teased. "He looks really pale."

"I'm sure," Wendy declared as she stood back up, completely straight. "But perhaps he needs some medicine, just to be completely sure. What do you boys think?"

A cheer went up from the Twins and Slightly as a resounding "No!" echoed from Peter. Wendy laughed at the look of betrayal on his face as he stood up, pushing away from what he deemed the crazy group. Wendy placed her hands on her hips as she took a wide stance. He was directly across the table from her at this point which did make for quite the spectacle even if they couldn't see it for themselves.

"Well maybe we could wait to check again in the morning, after a good night's rest," the young woman said as a way of compromising.

"I'm not tired."

"But Peter, all growing boys need their sleep."

"I don't!"

"Maybe that's why you're still so small," Slightly snarked from his spot.

Peter glared at him with his own hands being placed on his hips. "I am not small. You're just too big."

Wendy really couldn't help it. Well she could have but it wouldn't have been as much fun. She showed her age with every word she spoke, "That's what she said."

And at that point, Peter seemed to lost his fight as his mouth dropped open in shock. The three lost boys ate that up.


End file.
